


Kats Over Kittens

by notaverse



Category: Johnny's Entertainment, KAT-TUN (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-02
Updated: 2011-10-02
Packaged: 2017-10-24 06:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/259978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notaverse/pseuds/notaverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt from Lin: The prompt is a translation found <a href="http://loveorlike.tumblr.com/post/475022736/a-message-from-2ch-japanese-bbs-last-year-november">here</a>, and <i>But by the end of the day, Junno is always there to catch him if he falls.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Kats Over Kittens

Jin's not as strong as everyone thinks but he's stronger than anyone knows, and it's the love and support of his friends and family that make him that way. He hadn't known, back when he'd signed that contract, that it meant signing away his freedom, signing away any chance he'd ever had at a normal life. If he'd caught himself young enough, walked away early enough, he might've gotten out for good.

Not now. Now his desire to create freely, to do things his way, clashes at every turn with what the agency wants. And even when he does get the things he wants, they come at a cost.

Star in a movie? Play in a rock band? Record songs with other artists and perform them live on the stage? All exciting, fresh and new, and while Jin finds it awkward, at first, getting used to all the strangers around him, he knows how to deal with that. A stranger's only a stranger till you make them your friend, and Jin has plenty of those now, the familiar faces smiling when they see him.

But when solo work begins to cut into his work with KAT-TUN, his own smile starts to fade. Jin freely admits he's not suited to all the trappings of an idol - he could do without the ruffles, for one thing, and being humiliated on television in the name of entertainment isn't his thing either - but it's the industry causing him problems, not his bandmates, and he worries, sometimes, that they'll move on without him while he's busy being someone else. Someone who isn't KAT-TUN's 'A'.

"You'll always be our 'A'," Junno says when he finds Jin moping in the corner of the dressing room, clutching a message from his manager about possibly doing another song with Crystal Kay. "You can't pronounce 'KAT-TUN' properly without it." He tries it out a few times for size, ending up with "kitten".

" _Koneko_ ," Jin translates. "A baby cat."

"We could all perform with pointy ears and tails," Junno says, and the mental image makes Jin smile just a little bit.

"I wouldn't mind missing that. I can just about get away with the _tengu_ masks - do you have any idea how much teasing I'd have to take if I went out there as a catboy?"

" _Nya-o idea_ ," Junno says in a bad American accent; part-English, part-atrocious pun. "But it would make a great _tale_ to tell your kids if the agency ever lets you have any."

Jin tries to figure out if the English 'tale/tail' was another attempt at a joke, and groans anyway. "I think I liked your sense of humour better before you started picking up random English."

"I'm starting French lessons next week; maybe you'll like it better then?"

"Seriously?"

Junno grins and starts stretching to warm himself up for the evening performance. "We've got five shows next week - where do you think I'm going to find the time?"

"Right." Jin looks away, wonders if he should tell Junno - tell all of them - that he might be doing another song with Crystal Kay, this time with an actual CD release. It wouldn't be like _Shuuji to Akira_ , wouldn't be a betrayal...would it? The message was light on the details, but what if it turned out to be a single? What if he had to go promote it? What happened if there was a scheduling clash?

His manager has made it quite clear: solo work comes first. If there is a conflict, Jin will simply be excused from participating in KAT-TUN activities.

Okay, so that might not be a bad thing if it gets him out of more "dates" with Morisanchuu, but Jin doesn't want to be left out again. What if KAT-TUN release another single and he's not there for it? Will he even get to sing?

"Why are you trying to crush that piece of paper?" Junno asks. "Did you squash an insect in it?"

Jin shudders; his dislike of creepy-crawlies is well known. "Some news, that's all."

"Bad news?" Junno stops stretching, drops down beside Jin on the couch. "Good news?"

"Good news, I think?" Jin still isn't sure. "But maybe...difficult news?"

"Difficult?"

It doesn't look like Junno's about to give up. Jin explains the message, what it might mean for him, trying to keep his voice neutral because the last thing he needs right before a live is a group who've become his family over the last decade shutting him out because they've concluded he thinks his solo career is more important.

"Difficult news," Junno agrees when Jin's done. "But it's a good thing, right? Didn't you enjoy collaborating last time?"

"I loved it. I was really proud of the song we created together."

"Then you'll do something you can be proud of this time, too, and we'll all be proud of you for doing it."

Jin tightens his grip on the crumpled paper, wondering if he can crush it out of existence. "Even if it means I might not be able to work with you guys for a bit?"

Junno shrugs. "It's not like you're quitting. We're six individuals who put ourselves first - we take our own careers as far as we can, and when we join together, we've got all that power behind us. I don't think it's a bad thing to be a group like that. It's better than being so attached to each other that we're not strong enough to do anything alone."

It's costing Junno something to say that; Jin's not sure how much but there's a bitterness in his eyes when he talks about solo work. Junno's never had his own stage show, or solo concert, or a movie role, and it makes Jin feel a little guilty about fretting for having too much on his plate.

"We're the ones you can always return to, remember?" Junno continues. "We might not wait for you, but we'll always help you catch up. So you shouldn't worry about doing the things you want to do. And as for the things you don't want to do...well...you've never had a problem expressing how you feel about those."

He has a point. Jin can't fake his emotions, so when he's annoyed or upset, he can't hide it. It's earned him a few lectures. He's still not happy about being told he doesn't have a choice, even if having a choice would make things more difficult, and he can't act like he's thrilled about how much control he _doesn't_ have over his life.

On the other hand, he loves making music, and any opportunity for that is something to be happy about.

"You're not helping at all," Jin says, pretending to grumble, but they both know he doesn't mean it. How he deals with the events in his life is up to him and that's a choice no one else can make.

"Isn't that normal?" Junno says. "We've got a pretty good routine going here; no need to change it."

KAT-TUN change all the time: learning, growing, improving. They've matured, become able to deal with the world on adult terms, adapted their work to suit their own styles. But their personalities don't change, not really, and Jin can predict his bandmates' responses to his news.

He's still not sure how he feels about it himself - a mixture of too many emotions to count. But it's good to know that whatever happens, he's always got the support of his friends.


End file.
